There are many post-traumatic and post-operative patients who develop major pulmonary complications which interfere with or preclude adequate oxygenation. The "shock lung" best characterizes this syndrome complex. Severe pneumonias, smoke inhalation, acute respiratory obstructions, pre-mature birth, and birth-related pulmonary injury also can lead to the same general problems with oxygenation. Patients with massive pulmonary embolism and hemothorax also suffer from severe hypoxemia. Combining patients in these categories, there is a substantial population of patients at high risk, but whose conditions are potentially reversible, given adequate oxygenation.
The present invention utilizes an oxygenated fluorocarbon liquid for general body oxygenation, which is applied as a circulation through the peritoneal cavity. The aforementioned incorporated patents and patent applications reference in detail various prior art publications relating to fluorocarbons and their medical uses. More recently, in the British Journal of Anaesthesia 56: 867 (1984) in an article entitled "Whole Body Oxygenation Using Intra Peritoneal Perfusion of Fluorocarbons" by Faithfull, Klein, van der Zee and Salt, results of a preliminary study undertaken to assess the feasibility of increasing the arterial oxygen tension, and decreasing the arterial carbon dioxide tension, in intact animals, by means of peritoneal perfusion with the perfluorocarbon-containing, oxygen-transporting blood substitute, 20% Fluosol-DA, were disclosed. This British Journal of Anaesthesia article is not believed to be prior art to the present application.
See also U.S. Pat. No. 4,402,984 (Moore).